Or Maybe the Story Ends Like This
by DarkMark
Summary: Does the story of the Gen13ers end as it does in the comics?  Or is there, perhaps, an alternative, and one last desperate chance for triumph?


Gen 13:  
  
Or Maybe the Story Ends Like This  
  
by DarkMark  
  
The party is fading out, thought Caitlin Fairchild. My God, I know what that means. We have only half a second to live. Objectively. Grunge, Bobby, Roxy, Sarah and I. We're all going to die in half a second.  
  
But they'd been partying down with some of their GenActive friends for an entire night. That was after the bomb was activated, and went off. This meant...  
  
...that the entire party was a fantasy. Something her brain had cooked up in the last few seconds before annihilation, to make her dying as pleasant an experience as possible.  
  
Quickly, she reviewed what had brought them to this place. Anna, the android servant created by their mentor, John Lynch (who'd been missing for months), had replicated herself into renegades. Those murderous anti-life droids had fashioned a GenActive bomb, a device that could take millions of lives, powered by the genetic factor within the bodies of Caitlin and her friends. The mutating gene that had morphed her into a tall, beautiful Amazon with super-strength, which had given Bobby Lane his Burnout powers, which had turned Eddie Chang into Grunge, a being whose very substance could change into whatever he touched, which had given Roxy Spaulding (who was Caitlin's half-sister) her gravity-defying, Freefall powers, and which had turned Sarah Rainmaker into the mistress of all natural phenomena, particularly of weather. That was what powered the bomb.  
  
The last surviving Anna droid had triggered the bomb.  
  
For the last night (subjectively, of course), she and the others had been involved or trapped in a fantasy party straight out of one of Grunge's Girls Gone Wild videos. Did the others share that fantasy? Caitlin guessed that they probably did, because the crap that went on at the party had excesses she'd never have participated in of her own free will. Thus, the bomb detonation had to be a factor in this. The five of them were alloyed into a common scenario, drawn from one or more of their brains (Caitlin guessed that Grunge was behind most of it, though it probably took something from all of them), and they had subjectively spent hours in it.  
  
Now they had about a half second to live.  
  
Objectively.  
  
Subjectively, what? How long did they have?  
  
It might be a pleasant thing to die, to get the whole damn thing over with, not to have to cope with Black Razors or flying idiots or Gamorran tyrants or any of that stuff. What had their Gen powers been, really, except an invitation for other SPB's to attack them? In one of those attacks, she had seen her own father die, saving them. Alex Fairchild had lost an arm, then given his life for theirs.  
  
You never got over the sight of that. Never.  
  
The party continued to fade...like their lives...  
  
NO.  
  
If they gave way, there was no telling how many civilians would perish. There was no way she could allow that to happen. Not if she had power, not if she had time...and time seemed more subjective than objective here. She would not let the Annas triumph. She would not let pass so many lives. She would not disgrace the sacrifice of her father.  
  
Think, Caitlin, she told herself. You're supposed to be the leader. All right, it's not much of a group, just five kids barely breaking 21 years apiece, but we've still seen our share of fights, and we've still won them all. And this isn't going to be the one we lose. You're supposed to know about strategy. Dad knew about it. What's the strategy for this one?  
  
She called out to the fading party. "Grunge! Grunge, are you there?"  
  
Eddie Chang, all 5' 8" of him, looked at her with his fading countenance. "Kat? Kat, what the hell's happenin'?"  
  
"Bobby, Roxy, Sarah, listen. Can you hear me? Bobby, use your telepathy. Link me. Now!"  
  
The youth known as Burnout, who had long known of his pyrokinetic powers but only recently learned of his telepathic abilities, sent words into her mind. I've got us, Kat. What's happening? Things are...fading away...  
  
Listen to me, Caitlin thought. Just listen. The party...it isn't real. Here's what's real. The Anna set off the GenActive bomb. In a couple of seconds, maybe less than that, we'll be dead. Unless we can pull this off, and Grunge, you'd better be able to.  
  
Me? Perceval Edward Chang's voice rang through her mind.  
  
You, she thought. Grunge, you can absorb just about any substance you touch. I need you...I need you to absorb the force of this bomb.  
  
Are you crazy, Kat?  
  
Crazy is all we've got left, Eddie. Use your power. I want you to become one with it. I want you...to absorb it...I want you it...to use it...to reconstitue our bodies. Burnout, you're going to guide him, with input from me. Can you do that?  
  
Bobby Lang sent, Do we really have a choice?  
  
This is our only choice, Bobby. Sarah, Roxy, can you hear me?  
  
Yes, Caitlin, sent Roxy. There was no smart-assing at all in her mental voice. All to the good.  
  
Sarah Rainmaker sent: Loud and clear, Kat. What can we do?  
  
Sarah, I want you to use all your power to help contain the bomb's force. To push it into Grunge's body. Roxy, I don't know just how your gravity power works, but if you have control of that force, you can use it somehow to reinforce Sarah. We've got to do it. Can you manage it?  
  
Like you said, Kat, sent Sarah, this is our only choice.  
  
I'll manage, said Roxy. I'll...find a way.  
  
Caitlin Fairchild took a deep breath. Grunge...do it now.  
  
Not daring to breathe, Perceval Chang held out his arms, spread his legs, and, with a silent prayer, crucified himself in the fury of the bomb.  
  
The mind-link that Burnout maintained among them sent back the pain and fury that Grunge was feeling. Caitlin felt as though she were being knocked off her feet by the wind of a hurricane. To hell with that, she thought, and set her feet squarely upon what remained of the flooring of their dream. Grunge. Maintain, she sent. You have to maintain.  
  
Kat...  
  
YOU HAVE TO MAINTAIN.  
  
She could feel the power of Sarah's quasi-mystical force cocooning itself about Grunge, concentrating its terrible power into his absorptive form. Caitlin bit her lip. This bomb was as powerful as any other nuclear device of its size. If anything could tear Grunge limb from limb, atomize him, it would be this. His only hope was to merge with it, to become one with it, to master the power unleashed against them...and to do it before their time ran out. Whenever that would be.  
  
It couldn't be much longer, even subjectively.  
  
Kat...  
  
Eddie, she sent. This is what we were made for. We don't have a choice. You don't have a choice. This time, you've got to be a hero like never before, Eddie. None of us can do it except you. Eddie...you've got to win!  
  
I'm...I'm...  
  
You can do what is required, Eddie Chang, sent Sarah Rainmaker, as calm as a shaman of her Apache tribe. The Earth itself is your guide, your shield. Transcend the force sent against us. Turn it to your side. Become your enemy.  
  
Oh, God, this had better work... The thoughts were Burnout's.  
  
Bobby, if you can't say something helpful, shut up, snapped Caitlin.  
  
Grunge, sent Roxy, desperately. You want a cliche? Here it is. I never had a chance to see if I loved you or not. You never gave me one. But if you had...I think I might have loved you. I've said it, Eddie. At least I got a chance to do that. Now, save us! Save us all!  
  
For a second, Caitlin reflected on the scenario. None of them were acting like kids, for once. None of their words indicated immaturity. If it took this to make them all grow up...no. She couldn't say it was worth it. But maybe that was the way it had to be.  
  
Eddie Chang was screaming.  
  
Caitlin tried going to him, in their dreamspace, and was flung back. Whatever outcome this battle had, Grunge was going to have to wage it himself.  
  
Nobody else was sending. Eddie was still screaming in pain.  
  
Then, he seemed to be screaming in triumph.  
  
His body was burning with the light of an atomic detonation. In X-ray relief, his bones were visible as shadows. It was impossible to read his expression, but Caitlin could see his eyes. From what she could perceive, he looked determined.  
  
The aura of force appeared to cover the five of them, with Grunge at the center. He was trembling, as if the power he contained could barely be held within him. Caitlin felt that was probably an accurate assessment. She, the strongest member of Gen13, could do nothing to affect the outcome of this conflict.  
  
Except lend him her resolve, for whatever that was worth, and she hoped she was doing that.  
  
Eddie crossed his arms, brought them against his chest, threw back his head, and screamed as though the universe was being born through him. The nimbus of power about them expanded for a long moment, then withdrew, rushing into Grunge's body, from whence it shot into the heavens like a geyser. He was transmitting it into space, where its fury would be spent harmlessly in vacuum and cosmic dust.  
  
Eddie... sent Caitlin.  
  
Be still, Kat, warned Sarah. This thing is not yet done.  
  
The roar of power was audible now, and filled the air as if the quintet were standing next to a rocket launch. The comfortable house they had been occupying was gone, now, with only a backdrop of whiteness in its place. What they were standing on, what they were breathing, were questions that none of them could have answered, if they even had the time to formulate the questions at all. None of them did.  
  
With a final roar, both from his mouth and from the release of energy, Grunge spent his power.  
  
Then he fell forward, on his face.  
  
Reality firmed up around them. The setting was that of the abandoned I.O. facility in Death Valley, California, the site of their last battle. There were metal walls about them, and the burned remains of the last Anna before them. Caitlin drew a long breath, and it was good, for all the foul smells it held.  
  
There was one other alteration. Caitlin felt of her chest. Instants ago, she had three puncture wounds through her torso, and was also missing two fingers. Now, she was whole again, healed again. If Grunge had managed this...well, he did good work.  
  
Roxy, Bobby, and Sarah were all over Eddie, turning him over, with Roxy quickly administering CPR and Burnout pushing down on his chest at intervals. Sarah had his wrist in her hand. "We've still got a pulse," she said. "He isn't dead." She looked up at Caitlin. "Well? What are you standing there for?"  
  
Caitlin went over and gently pulled Roxy away. "No offense, Rox, but I've got more training in this than you do."  
  
"You know how I feel about him!"  
  
"That's why you need me to do this," she said, and placed her mouth on Grunge's.  
  
A few seconds of her super-powered breathing and Grunge managed to cough.  
  
"Did I hear correctly?" said Burnout. "Was that definitely a..."  
  
"He coughed, Bobby," snapped Sarah. Bobby Lane whooped and shot a stream of fire at the ceiling.  
  
Roxy managed to hold Grunge's hand, hoping that it would be the first thing he'd feel, even though the first thing he'd see would be Caitlin's face. Dutifully, his eyes fluttered open a few seconds later. Weakly, he tried grabbing Fairchild's shoulder. She disengaged her mouth from his.  
  
"Take a few breaths, Grunge," she said. "In and out. Reassure us."  
  
Eddie Chang did so, his color returning. "This isn't...another...fantasy, izzit?"  
  
By now, the four of them were crowded about him. "Just the one they call the regular world, Eddie," said Caitlin. "Believe it or not, you won. You saved the day."  
  
"Nah," wheezed Grunge. "We. We saved it, Kat. Believe it."  
  
-G-  
  
Caitlin was dangling her long legs over the edge of the pool at their San Diego home. The place had a lot of work still to be done on it after the Anna's attack, but it would do for now. Sarah Rainmaker came to join her. She sat beside Kat, but didn't bother with getting her feet wet.  
  
"Still here, Kat?" Sarah grasped her friend lightly by the shoulder.  
  
"Arguably," said Caitlin, who was dressed in a red T-shirt and blue jean shorts. "What's on your mind, Sar?"  
  
"Think we saved the world?"  
  
"At least a part of it," Caitlin confirmed. "Maybe the most important part of it."  
  
"You think so?"  
  
"Yeah. Oh, yeah."  
  
Sarah reflected. Grunge had managed to use the Gen bomb's power to heal them all. Even Burnout's injured eye was reconstructed. He'd never manage to do anything like that again, but at least he'd done it when it counted most. "I'm starting to worry about him. Grunge, I mean."  
  
"Why?"  
  
The Apache girl smiled. "He's put up all his old porn mags. Hasn't thrown 'em out, y'know, but he's just put 'em in a trunk in the attic. I asked him why, he just said, 'New phase.'"  
  
"New phase like Roxy?" She and Grunge had been tentatively dating since the bomb incident, and seemed to have something going, despite themselves.  
  
"New phase like...what the hell do you call it? Maturity?" Sarah almost wrinkled her nose.  
  
"Maybe." Caitlin pulled her legs out of the water and lay back on the concrete poolside, her face to the sun, her eyes closed.  
  
Sarah encircled her legs with her arms. "Does it take something like that to make you grow up, Kat?"  
  
"Well, if those are the results, Sarah, maybe that's not a bad hypothesis," said Caitlin, not opening her eyes. "Or maybe it's just the time of the season, like that old song Lynch used to listen to said. You can't stay a kid forever."  
  
"Nope. Not even with the help of girlie mags. Kat?"  
  
"Uh huh?"  
  
"What about John Lynch?"  
  
Caitlin turned over on her stomach. "I think finding him is going to be our next priority. If you're all still part of the team, that is."  
  
"That was ever in doubt?"  
  
Caitlin lifted her head, looked at Sarah inquisitively.  
  
Smiling, Sarah said, "No. It was never in doubt. When do you want to talk to the others?"  
  
"Later," said Caitlin. "We stopped a bomb a couple of weeks ago. That rates at least a few hours more down time."  
  
"When?"  
  
"About 4:30. Have 'em rounded up by then. Not a minute late. We'll have work to do."  
  
"Gotcha."  
  
Sarah moved away. Caitlin Fairchild stretched out, felt the warmth, and was glad for the three hours she had left to do nothing.  
  
There was nothing at this moment more important than that.  
  
  
  
This is an alternative to the ending of Gen13 V. 1, which story I thought ended in a pretty lame fashion. Maybe this is a beginning.  
  
Gen13 is the property of Wildstorm Productions. No money is being made from this story, no infringement is intended.  
  



End file.
